


This Sweet Madness: Viva La Vida

by Covenmouse



Series: Their Silent Reverie [2]
Category: Sailor Moon
Genre: Adventure, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-25
Updated: 2011-06-28
Packaged: 2017-10-20 17:49:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/215453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Covenmouse/pseuds/Covenmouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a set of old faces reappear in their lives, the Senshi and Tuxedo Mask struggle to decide whether these persons are friend or foe as they begin to realize that what they believe of the past may not be true at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ami

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N** : Originally called "intermissions," these chapters cover a portion of the senshi's story during the events of _This Sweet Madness_ ; they are not stand alone. I removed them from the other body of work as they didn't seem to fit mood of the rest of the piece, but decided to put them in as an in-between, or intermission, before the sequel, _This Glorious Sadness_.

**AMI**   
_June 2009. Tokyo, Japan._

Rei's fork settled upon her plate with a clink that seemed to echo through the kitchen. "It's good," she muttered to Makoto, who nodded, but everyone could see that the priestess's slice of birthday cake had only had the slimmest corner cut from it. Half of that corner was still on the fork.

Ami looked down at her own plate of untouched cake and then set it aside as well. Usagi was the only one eating it, it seemed, but even her bites were slow and thoughtful. Makoto didn't seem to notice or mind; she was washing dishes with such concentration that Ami worried she might manage to break one of porcelain plates. Those could be dangerous, she'd learned.

A sudden, irresistible bark of laughter burst from her mouth and Ami clapped a hand to her lips. Heads all around the kitchen jerked up, and six sets of eyes settled upon her. Despite this, the laughter shook up through her shoulders and spilled into the air. Ami squeezed her eyes shut and leaned her hot face into her hands as she let the mirth wash through her.

"Ami-chan..." Usagi whispered around a mouthful of chocolate.

"I-I'm sorry." Ami gasped between giggles and drug the heel of her palm under one eye. "I just…I can't help it. The plates."

Makoto lifted one of the hand-painted china plates out of the sink and looked at it doubtfully. Ami managed to get herself under control enough to sputter: "Zoe…Zoicite. S-she tried to kill herself with a plate."

A second twitter of laughter arose from the counter top. Artemis ducked his head in an attempt to hide his own sets of giggles. Beside him, Luna's ears perked and she stared at her lover as if he'd gone mad. Ami's own giggles renewed themselves and she folded her arms across the table top, hiding her face against them.

The hand that caressed her shoulder a moment later was Rei's, she guessed, based on simple proximity.

"I don't see what's so funny," Usagi whispered. The lump in Ami's throat threatened to choke her, and she sniffled but the laughter didn't want to fade.

"It isn't." Mamoru chortled. "That's why it is."

Rei's hand rubbed circles against Ami's back and she heard the woman shift in the seat beside her. "They're not laughing with humour, Usako." Ami nodded to the underlying threat of the statement.

A few clinks and splashes told her that Makoto had resumed the dish washing, and slowly her shaking began to subside; the warm hand helped. "I don't know what to do," she choked. Rei's hand moved up to stroke her hair and Usagi whimpered.

"What can we do?" Rei asked after a moment. "You're their doctor, not us, you can't share information with us."

Ami shook her head and sat up again, once more dragging her fingers against her damp skin. Rei offered her a napkin and she took it with a nod of thanks. "I shouldn't, no," Ami replied when she'd cleared her throat a few times. "It isn't… proper. But."

"But they're a threat." Luna had Artemis half ensconced between her front paws, now, his face buried against her breast. Her blue eyes focused on Ami and the psychologist tried not to read any emotions into them. "At least, it's probable that they are. If these two have returned, and we are certain of who they are-"

"-We are," said Rei.

"-Then it is probable that the other two, and even Beryl, have returned."

Mamoru cleared his throat. The attention of the room shifted to him, but his eyes were for Ami and she nodded even before he opened his mouth; she knew what he would say. "Bachiko."

Usagi's eyes widened. "Are you sure?"

"Almost positive." Ami sighed. "Rei wasn't able to get close enough to read her aura, but from the things that both Zoe and Jun have said…It's mixed in there, somehow. But I know that it's her."

"Metallia is dead," said Artemis, "Beryl wasn't much of a threat on her own. I don't think we have anything to worry about if she's as Looney Tunes as you said."

The urge to correct the cat was strong, but Ami bit her lip and Makoto set the last plate aside. "From what you guys said," Makoto slowly said as she turned the faucet off and found a towel to dry her hands, "It seems like Jad-Jun and… Zoe? Zoe don't want much to do with her anymore, if anything. These aren't the Shitennou that we're talking about, these are just… children."

"They're not just anything." Rei shook her head. "There's something there. When I saw Jun, there was something about his aura which isn't…right. I'd need to get closer to tell, but after this afternoon..."

"How is he?" Usagi asked, looking down at her licked-clean dessert plate. Makoto reached over to take it from her and plunked it into the standing dishwater.

"He hasn't woken up yet," Ami said. "They aren't sure about the diagnosis, and I'm not certain how much I can-that is to say-"

No one bothered to speak up, and the room fell silent. Rei pushed her chair back and began to collect plates from the table. She pushed the untouched slices of cake onto a saucer together and carried the lot around the bar to where Makoto still stood. Together, they took care of the remains of Usagi's birthday dinner.

Mamoru got up and went upstairs, as if he'd heard something. Usagi looked after him, but then settled back against the table and put her chin on her hands. "I'm thirty-two, now," the woman mused, "Why don't I feel different?"

Ami smiled a little and looked at her friend. "Because you're Usagi and you'll never grow up."

A smile broke across Usagi's face and she laughed. "But I'm getting silver hair, now. I didn't think it would happen this soon."

"There's a lot of things I thought would have already happened," Makoto said from the kitchen, "But if you go grey first, can we start calling you Granny?"

"Mako-chan!" Usagi squealed. "That's mean!"

"Old Lady Chiba." Rei nodded with every air of seriousness. "Small Lady will have to drop out of grade school to put you into a home."

"You're all mean!" The birthday girl huffed, but the twinkle had returned to her eyes. Mamoru came back downstairs and Usagi turned to him, a grin on her face that stilled when she saw him. Ami frowned, her own gaze flying to the one man in their midst and silence once again ruled the kitchen.

He had in his hand a box; a simple wooden jewelry box no different from any other of its ilk. No different, until he set it upon the counter and lifted the top. In the kitchen, one of the china plates dropped and shattered.


	2. Minako

  
**MINAKO**   
  
_June 2009.  Houston, TX._

Whatever she might say about the differences between Houston and Tokyo, there was one difference which Minako could get behind--the time zone.  She was always up by five AM, these days, ready to start another day.  It was convenient, then, to grab the phone and catch one of her gal-pals at a time that was good for them.  Case in point, six AM this morning was exactly eight PM on Usagi’s thirtieth birthday.

By comparison, time difference had been annoying in Britain as it had always been a bad time for one of them.

She flopped onto her couch, wet hair still wrapped in a towel and nothing but her underwear on, and listened to the phone ring.  The other line connected, finally, and she sing-songed out the first strains of Happy Birthday before--”Minako!”

The woman blinked, halting abruptly in her salutations.  “Mako-chan? What’s wrong?”

“Sorry.” The other woman sighed. “I didn’t mean to snap but...now really isn’t the time.”

“Eh?”

From the receiver she heard someone in the background call her name.  A rustle passed over the line, and the voices became muffled.  Minako frowned and crossed her free arm over her chest, one toe tapping against the carpet.

“Hey! Come on guys, this is expensive you know!”

“Sorry, Mina-chan,” Makoto said a moment later.  “It’s just that we have a bit of a situation. Do you have your communicator handy?”

Minako glanced at the clock on her kitchen counter, then nodded.  “Yeah, let me get a shirt on and dig it out of the dresser drawer.  Hold on.”

She cut the line and left the phone on the couch.  Dashing for the bedroom, Minako grabbed the silk work shirt she’d left out and pulled it on.  Once the buttons were reasonably done up, she dug out the communicator she’d hidden away when she’d moved there six months go.  They had all agreed before she left that it would be best to only use it in worst case scenarios. With the American crack down on security, especially in dealing with unlicensed foreign transmissions, no one wanted to gamble that their comm channel might be detectable.  Though Ami had run some tests, she had no way to be absolutely certain it wouldn’t get them into trouble.

The last thing Minako cared to try in this life was breaking out of Guantanamo.

It buzzed just as she found it.  She flipped it open and flopped chest-first onto her bed.  “OK, what on Earth is going on over there?”

The communicator threw up a miniature hologram of her friends.  It was amazing to see their faces again, even if six months didn’t feel like so long a time.  This wasn’t the crowd of happy, brilliant women she’d left, though.  Rei, Makoto, and Artemis all looked ready to kill someone.  Ami’s eyes were bloodshot from crying, though now she was chewing on her bottom lip as she only did when pissed and she was trying not to show it.  Usagi was moping, which meant she was also angry.  Mamoru and Luna were no where to be seen.

“We were just about to call you, Minako,” Ami said, fidgeting with a box.  The rest of the girls leaned away from it as she ran her finger over the clasp. “It seems that there is something which Mamoru neglected to tell us.”

Minako listened in muted horror as Ami relayed what had been going on in Japan the last month. A shiver ran down her spine as the girls recounted what they could tell of the three children they’d found.  Finally, Ami opened the jewelry box.

Four, cracked stones were held within.  Minako’s eyes pricked with tears as she stared; she didn’t need anyone to tell her what--or rather, who--they were.

“I still can’t believe him,” Rei hissed, so low that Minako could barely hear her.  “How dare he--”

“Please!” Usagi slapped her hand on the table.  They all jumped.  “Stop it. I’m not happy with him either, but attacking each other isn’t going to help anything.”

Makoto put a hand to Rei’s shoulder to stop her.  The priestess rose and disappeared from the hologram.  Over the communicator, Minako could hear the front door slam.  She shook her head. “He should have told us,” she said flatly, and they nodded with her, “But that he didn’t doesn’t really change anything.  Those three are there--what about...”

Minako trailed off.  Artemis looked up from her paws and she saw a tell-tale twitch of his whiskers; guilt.  “Artemis. You know what this sounds like.”

“Yes,” he admitted.  Makoto stared down at him and his ears sunk.  “It took me a moment to make the connection.”

“Whoah.” Makoto held her hands up. “What connection? Dammit, you’re hiding shit from us, too?”

“No!” Artemis sat up straight again.  He looked ready to continue, but Minako overrode him.

“It was my call,” she said and looked at Usagi.  “I didn’t have enough information.  Artemis and I spoke about it, and we figured it was better to wait until I got back to Japan next month--since everything has been so peaceful the past few years.”

“What happened?” Usagi whispered so lowly that Minako wasn’t entirely certain she’d really heard her.

Ignoring a surge of guilt, Minako’s eyes drifted back toward the open box of gems as she related her brief acquaintance with Keanu Nassar. At the end she hesitated, then added: “I wouldn’t have thought this connected to us at all, except that...that last phone call.  He referenced Usagi--well. No. The Princess.”

Usagi looked up, then.  Their eyes met, briefly, before the princess turned away again.  “He referenced me.”

“I didn’t understand what he meant, then.  Honestly, I’m not even sure what it means now. But with this information...I think I might have been dealing with one of them.”

“You don’t know which?”

“No.” Minako shook her head.  “He didn’t display any powers, and he didn’t look--well, he’s dark, and Kunzite was dark, but that’s about where the similarities end.  How do you know that you have Zoicite and Jadeite on your end?”

“Jun is kind of hard to miss,” Ami mused.  “He’s Ainu, to start with. Honestly, his colouring is so rare I thought at first he might share your sort of parentage, but he looks eerily similar to what I remember of Jadeite.

“Zoe, on the other hand...I wouldn’t have known it but for some of the things she’s said.  With her it’s more of a--”

“Her?” Minako blinked.  “I realize you said that before, but--”

“Yes. Her.” Rei returned to the table, then, her arms folded about her chest like a shield.  She retook her seat and pursed her lips.  “We’re dealing with reincarnation, not resurrection.”

“Meaning?” Artemis asked, looking up at the Priestess.

“Meaning that things aren’t going to match.  These are not the beings that they were previously.  They may or may not share characteristics with their past selves.”

“But we...” Makoto hesitated, and Rei shook her head.

“I’m not sure what we are, to tell you the truth,” Rei said, slowly.  “Setsuna and I have discussed it many times.  Our return was influenced by the Ginzushou, not the natural order of things.  So, too, was the return of the generals when we fought them as children.  This, however...this I feel is different.”

All eyes turned to Usagi, who still stared at the table.  “Mina-chan...what did he say about me?”

Minako shifted on the bed.  “It doesn’t translate very well.”

“Try.”

“Fuck your princess.”

There was a silence, and then Artemis scoffed.  “They share some characteristics, alright.”


	3. Makoto

**MAKOTO**   
_July 2009. Tokyo, Japan_

The smell of fried bear was not one she was liable to get out of her nose any time soon. Jupiter cupped a ball of electricity between her hands, standing at ready to unleash another at the monstrous animal limping about the hospital parking lot. On all fours it towered over the mini-vans and cars, and one swipe of its massive paws had sent several vehicles flying already.

"Mercury, we need a plan!" Venus whipped out her chain. It wrapped thrice about the creature's neck, and she tugged, trying to hold it down. The bear roared, foam spraying from its lips. It raised one paw, its gaze locking upon Venus, and Jupiter tossed her ball of electricity underneath it.

A thousand chords of miniature lightning sprang up under the beast's belly, and it reared back on its hind legs. The Love Me Chain was ripped from Venus's hands, and the girl stumbled backward. "Shit!"

Mars tacked Venus, pushing her out of the way before the bear's paw would have taken off her head.

"Sorry, I thought-" The bear whirled to face Jupiter before she could finish, then charged. She yelped and dived out of the way as it caved a hole into a work van directly behind where she'd just been. It tossed its head, and the van moved with it. "It's stuck!"

"Good," said Mars as she helped Venus back to her feet.

"Mercury?"

The soldier in question looked up from her computer. She yelped as the bear got to its feet and swung around, head and shoulders still inside the van. "Moon dust it!"

"That's your plan?" Mars rolled to one side to dodge a swing of the van-bear's head. "Kind of difficult with Moon-"

"I'm working on it!" Makoto looked up to see their glorious leader still stuck in one of the oak trees that lined the hospital's entrance. Her foot was stuck in the crux of a tree branch and she'd had little luck in removing it.

"Are you sure you don't need help?"

"I've! Got! It!" Moon gave one massive yank on her foot and went tumbling out of the tree onto the grassy partition below. "Owwwwwww."

Attracted by the sound of whining, the bear roared-muffled, by the van closed around its head-and began to turn around in circles. Vans were not, Makoto figured, very good for acoustics. Venus ran around the animal, ducked a few awkward slashes of its paws, and grabbed Moon up onto her feet.

"This was so much easier when we were younger," Moon cried.

"I really don't remember that," Makoto muttered to herself, then rolled out of the way as the bear sat back on its haunches. It clawed at the van, and the air filled with the sound of claw on metal.

Suddenly the air went freezing cold, and the bear's butt began to grow-crystals? No, ice. Makoto jumped up onto a car before it could touch her. "Usagi!"

"On it."

Moon twirled her wand, and Jupiter felt the familiar tug at her core. She held her position, bracing herself as her power drained toward her princess. "MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"

A beam of light shot out from the wand. It hit the bear square in the chest, and immediately the bear began to...shrink. Jupiter wasn't sure what she'd expected, exactly, but the van fell to the ground as soon as the bear's head was too small to fit it, and the monster just continued to shrink and deform. Its fur retracted into its skin, as did it's claws. The bear gave one last, strangled growl before its mouth sewed shut. The raging red eyes turned black and button-like.

No, Jupiter realized, they were buttons. A doll sat on the pavement: a simple bedraggled teddy bear, beside the ruins of some mom's minivan. Mercury choked down a sob. She ran to it and picked it up, crushing it against her chest.

Sirens were closing in, now, and a screech of tires announced a TV van pulling into the parking lot. Turning, Jupiter glanced over the crowds of shocked patients and medical staff who had witnessed the battle, and she backed toward her companions.

"Come on," said Venus. She took Moon's hand and drug their leader toward the others. Jupiter reached for Mars, and Mercury tucked the bear under one arm in order to join hands with the rest. Light glowed about their forms for an instant, and then the world shifted around them.

They reformed on the roof of the main hospital, still in viewing distance of the ruined parking lot. Venus dropped the others hands and stalked toward the edge of the roof. "I haven't seen a youma like that since..."

"Them." Mercury removed her hand from Jupiter's and tucked her arms once more about the bear they'd fought. A blue sheen encased Mercury for a millisecond, then faded to reveal Ami's usual lab coat and work clothes beneath. The doctor did not raise her eyes from the ground. "It's Zoe's bear."

Mars swore faintly and crossed her arms, one red heel tapping upon the ground. She turned away to pace and Moon sighed. A pink glow sparkled about Moon for a moment, then her civilian clothes returned. She joined Minako at the edge of the building.

Jupiter took a deep breath and let the electricity drain from her body. She rubbed her arms as it went, soothing the goosebumps on her arms. "They're getting stronger, then."

"And more dangerous," said Minako.

Ami squeezed the bear tighter. "We don't-oh god, Jun." The bear was tossed to Makoto as Ami went sprinting for the stairs. Usagi turned to follow, but Minako caught her arm.

Their leader pursed her lips. Since she'd returned from America a few weeks ago, Minako had seemed to age rapidly. It didn't show on her face, but there was an exhaustion to her eyes which Makoto was certain had never been there before. "Mars, has there been any luck with the fire? Surely-"

"No!" Makoto stared as the fire senshi continued to pace. The air about Mars shimmered faintly, like the heat waves over a flame. "Nothing. Not a stir, not a vision, not even the smallest hint that something is wrong. I didn't know there was a thing wrong until I got the call-and the temple is just down the hill." Mars gestured wildly to one side, and Jupiter looked to see the rooftops of the shrine maybe half a mile away. No wonder Mars had gotten here so fast.

The bear in her arms was soft, like a teddy bear should be. Makoto stared at it a moment, and turned it over in her hands. There was absolutely no indication of the monster it had been only moments before.

"Maybe it's because of what you said." Makoto caught Mars' eye as she looked up. "About them being reincarnations, not resurrections? Maybe..."

Mars shook her head and was obscured a moment by a red blaze of her power. She glanced in the direction of the stair. "I've never had any problem before."

"We're assuming that they're enemies."

They all turned to look at Usagi, who had her arms wrapped about herself as she turned from the building's edge. She smiled and offered them a tiny shrug. "Why are we assuming that they're enemies?"

"Because they're acting like enemies." Minako touched Usagi's shoulder. "Because we can't risk that-"

"Well I think we should!"

"You just want Mamoru to be right." Makoto's fists dug into the bear. A sudden anger, stronger than anything she'd felt in all of this, struck her as the princess bowed her head. "It's all you ever want! And I get that, really I do-but we can't just ignore an enemy right under our noses because it interferes with your perfect world."

"Mako-chan," Minako said with a frown, "Calm down."

Usagi shrugged off Minako's hand and took a step toward Makoto. "I don't like what he did, either! I hate it as much as you do, why can't you see that?"

"Maybe because you aren't acting like it?" Her teeth ground together and she shook the bear at Usagi. "This just attacked us. This could have squashed us! And that kid is responsible. Whether you like it or not, they're enemies. But all we hear from you is how Mamoru isn't to blame, and how he was just thinking of us, and blah, blah, blah, blah, _blah_."

They glowered at each other for what seemed an eternity, and neither Rei nor Minako moved to intervene. Then Usagi's lips began to wilt. She stifled the first sob, but not the second or third. "I'm sorry!" The woman ducked around Makoto and ran for the stairs.

Makoto closed her eyes as the door slammed. "I'll go," Minako sighed, and in another moment the door shut once again.

Rei took the bear from Makoto's hands. Immediately the anger drained from Makoto and she rubbed one palm over her face. "Oh gods, what did I just-"

"You weren't wrong," the priestess mused. Rei stared at the stuffed animal she'd taken, and turned it over a few times in her hands. "Not wrong at all."

Their eyes met, and Makoto realized that Rei knew something-or at least, thought she did. "I'm going to see Setsuna," Rei continued.

"I'm coming with you."


	4. Rei

**REI**   
_July 2009.  Tokyo, Japan._

Setsuna did not smile when she opened the door to Rei and Makoto. She bade them come in and led them to the parlour, where there was tea.  They sat on the couches set around a coffee table, and Setsuna poured three cups from the teapot.  “Hakura and Michiru took Hotaru to New York, so you needn’t fear them eavesdropping.”

“Should we have anything to fear here?”  Rei took her cup with a gracious nod but did not sip it.  Already her hackles had come up and she had just stepped inside the door.  As much as she hated admit it, Rei wondered if that had more to do with the house than with Setsuna herself.  She’d never liked the mansion they lived in, but had always chalked it up to memories of her father.  

Makoto glanced between the pair of them and frowned.  “We’re here to ask a question, not to accuse anyone of anything.”

As she set the teapot upon a burner, Setsuna pursed her lips.  “That may be one and the same, depending upon the question you ask.”

Rei stared at her a moment longer, one nail tapping against the porcelain cup.  “We need to know what happened in the Silver Millennium.”

“You don’t remember?”  Setsuna smoothed her skirt over her knees.  

“Just bits and pieces,” said Makoto. “That Serenity had an affair with Endymion, Metallia and Beryl took over the Earth, and that the Dark Kingdom attacked the castle.”

“And what part of that do you not believe is true?”

“Whichever part you’re being defensive about,” said Rei.

The priestess and the astronomer stared at one another, backs straight and eyes locked.  A silence drifted between the three of them in which only Makoto fidgeted.  Then Setsuna sighed and reached for her tea.  “The full story is a little more complicated, I’m afraid, though what you know isn’t far off.”

Makoto’s fingers clutched at her cup.  “Please.”  

“Much like Serenity, Endymion was the high crown prince of the realm known as Elysion, which, yes, incorporated Earth at that time.”  Setsuna sipped at her tea; she stared deep into its contents, as though through it she saw another world entirely.  “In those days, his father ruled--the High King Aethlius.  Beneath him were the four lesser kings who controlled different aspects of their society, serving as both cabinet members and guardians of realm and king.”

“Like the senshi,” Rei said with a raised brow.

“Yes, very similar.  Some dared suggest that the two were the same, but for their typical sexes.”

Rei sipped her tea as she let that information sink.  She shared a glance with Makoto, who had a strange look upon her face.  “They were all male?”

“Women were mostly barred from power, there.  One exception was Beryl.  It was said that she was a companion to Aethlius as a child, as the so-called ‘King of the West’.  She went on to become the high priest of Gaea, and regent of the western kingdom until the heir, her nephew, would come of age.”

“Her nephew...”

“Nephrite,” said Makoto, who looked as surprised as Rei to hear this come from her own lips.  She bowed her head and stared at her shoes.

“Yes, Nephrite,” Setsuna said. “But then, after Calyce died, Beryl married Aethlius.  When he went in turn, she took the throne.  It was under her rule that Metallia corrupted the priesthood and the people of Earth.”

Rei pursed her lips.  “What of Helios?”

“I’ve wondered that myself.”  With a shake of her head, Setsuna sighed. “Without asking him directly, I can only speculate.”

Makoto tilted her head slightly and looked up to their friend.  “Why is that?”

The time senshi paused to drain her tea, but Rei took note of the way that Setsuna’s fingers clutched at the porcelain.  Eventually, Setsuna said:  “Elysion is beyond even my sight.”

Rei shared a glance with Makoto.  She leaned forward and put her tea cup upon the table, half finished and cold.  “So you have all this information...how?”

“From you.”  Setsuna met Rei’s eyes as the priestess blanched.  “Your past selves.  The five of you spent enough time there.”

They left not too long later, Setsuna claiming a headache.  Since their final battle with Chaos, Rei had not felt so shut out from the woman’s good graces.  She and Makoto walked back to Rei’s car, brooding.  When the doors were shut and their belts on, Makoto snapped:  “Well, that was worthless.”

“Was it?”  Rei stared at the steering wheel.

“What else?”  The brunette crossed her arms over her chest and kicked one heel up onto the dashboard.  Rei didn’t even snap at her.  “Of course we spent a lot of time in Elysion!  Serenity was having an affair with Endymion, they had to be together sometime to do that.”

“If what she said is true, then we should have those memories...somewhere.  I haven’t been able to access mine.”

Makoto turned her head to find Rei staring at her.  For a long moment she was silent, then she groaned.  “You want to go delving into my head?”

“Not particularly, but I may need to.”

“Gee, thanks.”  Reaching behind her seat, Makoto pulled the teddy bear they’d confiscated into her lap.  “Fine.  If you tell me why you saved this?”

“Because objects hold power and it belonged to Zoicite.  With the help of that bear, we might have a better connection with Elysion.”

For weeks, the pair met every day at the shrine.  Never before had Makoto and Rei spent so much time together, but now they lived almost as sisters.  Makoto was gifted at the kuji-in and mantras, Rei found, and soon the thunder senshi was performing them as though she had all her life.  Night after night they sat before the sacred fire and searched themselves for some vestige of knowledge, some remnant of what had once been.

“This is impossible,” Makoto said one night and leaned back against the wall.  She was drenched in sweat and she fanned herself with one hand.  

Rei sighed and shook her head.  “I don’t understand.  I am able to find other memories! I remember how we used to play by the sea every summer, and the balls and parties we attended.  I even remember how Venus used to flirt with that arrogant ass, Iolaus.”

“Iolaus wasn’t that bad,” Makoto chuckled softly.  Then she frowned, “Hey--I remember that!”

“See!” Rei threw her hands up. She grabbed the bear that had been sitting in the corner for weeks, now, and brandished it.  “This should be helping us!  Give me a watch of a missing person or a dead relative, and I can find them, but this bear--”

“Rei.”  The door slid open and Rei’s grandfather appeared on the other side.  He was carrying her cellphone, and he handed it to her, “Ami-chan says that it’s urgent.”

“Thank you.”  Rei took the device with a frown and put it to her ear.  “Ami--”

“They’re missing!”

“What?”  

Makoto sat up straight, and Rei thought she might be able to hear the receiver.  Ami babbled on, “Jun, Zoe, and Bachiko!  We thought they might just be hiding, but we can’t find them anywhere and a parking lot surveillance camera showed them leave the hospital.  I don’t think they’re going to come back this time.”

“We’ll be there in a minute.”  Rei snapped her phone shut and got up.  “We need to get to the hospital.  This can wait till later.”


	5. Mamoru

**Mamoru**   
_August 2009.  Tokyo, Japan_

They were matched blow for blow, swipe for swipe, panting breath for panting breath.  How many times had they done this in jest?  How many boasts had they made of the enemies that they would kill, together?  

“Don’t make me do this,” Kunzite growled as their blades locked once more.

Hatred roared in his veins, almost drowning out his own shout:  “I make you do nothing!”

The broke apart and met again.  Behind him, the queen worked her magic.  Selene would make this all right, Endymion knew it.  Her touch would heal their minds and free them from the clutches of that demon.  If only he could hold his cousin at bay...

A flash of metal as he stumbled.  A searing pain through his side.

Mamoru sat up with a gasp.  The panic within him died gradually, and Mamoru pressed his hand to his wildly beating heart.  Reminding himself to breathe, he swung his legs over the side of the couch and put his face in both hands.  It had been almost two weeks since he’d gotten a good night’s sleep, since Zoe and Jun had gone missing, and being regulated to the couch didn’t help matters.

“My prince.”  Yelping, Mamoru jumped and looked up to find Helios standing on the other side of the coffee table.  The priest winced, then bowed.  “Forgive me I seem to be getting that reaction quite a bit these days.”

“You could warn a man,” Mamoru said and groaned.  He rubbed the sleep from his eyes.  “What’s the matter, Helios?”

“I’ve come to deliver a message.”

Looking up, Mamoru frowned and realized for the first time just how serious Helios seemed--how sorrowful.  “A message?”

“From the generals.”

“Zoe, Jun--you know where they are?”  Elation spread through him like a wildfire and he got to his feet.  “Let me get my shoes, we need to get them back home at once.”

Helios raised his hands to ward him off.  “Forgive me, but you don’t understand.”

“Understand what?”  Mamoru grabbed his coat from the rack.  

“They have reclaimed their powers, and their memories.  It is their intention to follow through with your father’s last command.”  At that, Mamoru stopped, turned, and stared at Helios.  The priest did not look away, but he backed a step from Mamoru.  

“My father’s...”

“Endymion, Prince of the Earth and to the Golden Kingdom...”  Helios raised his hand, fingers outstretched.  A light shown at Endymion’s chest, and then sped toward the priest.  His knees went weak, and his chest burned.  Mamoru fell to the floor, staring up at the man who had been his priest.  Upstairs, a door slammed open.  “In the name of the King Aethlius--the last true king--I remove your claim to the throne and your ties to Elysion.”

Usagi gasped from the stairway.  She blundered down them and fell to her knees beside her husband.  “For your crimes against King and country you have been found traitor, and are hereby sentenced to death.”

Helios looked away, eyes closed.  “Forgive me,” he whispered, and vanished.


End file.
